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Desperately seeking truth
August 18, 2011  |  radhanath-swami

Richard (now Radhanath Swami) continued to be a wandering pilgrim; he wished to learn from many paths and teachers before he committed himself to one. He asked himself why he was leaving Maharshi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram. On three occasions Maharshi Mahesh yogi had appeared in Richard’s dream and Richard had enlightening spiritual experiences in this ashram. Yet he was leaving and moving from one place to another. As his search was getting intense, one can see his prayers becoming desperate.

Richard is growing in his spiritual quest and maturing with time. Radhanath Swami says unless we have this desperation to grow in our spiritual lives, advancement on the spiritual path is difficult. Radhanath Swami assures that as we seek to grow in our spiritual lives, we become mature in our realizations. And this will happen if we invest our time and energy in spiritual activities of hearing and chanting God’s names and serving selflessly. For a seeker of divinity, his search helps him mature. This can be understood with an example of a young, immature boy and girl. When they become physically mature, they see each other in a different light. Previously they had thought members of the opposite sex to be foolish, uninteresting and no good for playing with. Upon physical maturity they develop a different outlook—they become attracted, even infatuated. New, previously unknown desires arise in them. The same is true for a seeker of God who becomes mature. He or she will find new or previously unknown desires enter his or her mind: “Oh I wish to really serve God! Oh I really wish to satisfy Him and when, oh when, will I develop my relationship, my loving fulfilling relationship with the Lord?” Often God helps His devotee to mature by sending him a challenging situation which all of a sudden changes his perspective on life. At such a time new perspectives and desires arise in the mind. Radhanath Swami went through challenging situations and tests that helped him take shelter of God desperately. His realizations grew and prayers matured.

Radhanath Swami tells an interesting story to drive home the point of being intense in searching after truth. One day Socrates was wading into the public bath in Athens. Following him, a young man tapped Socrates on the shoulder and said, “Socrates, can I be your disciple?” Socrates continued walking, giving no response. “Socrates, can I be your disciple?” the young man repeated. Again Socrates gave no response. A third time the young man pleaded, “Socrates, can I please be your disciple?” Suddenly, Socrates wheeled him around, grabbed the young man’s head and thrust it under the water. He held the struggling man under until the bubbles started surfacing. Finally, when there was virtually no hope left, Socrates pulled the young man up out of the water and said to him, “Young man, when you desire truth as much as you desired air, then you can be my disciple.”

It is this kind of desperation that Richard was now developing in his quest. And when he would get to that level of desperation, ‘The Journey Home’ reveals, he meets his master and his path is revealed to him. Until then he continues to wander…

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106 Comments


  1. thats very difficult…
    when you desire truth as much as you desire air, then you can be my disciple…

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  2. Good article. Radhanath Swami’s meditations are pretty deep.

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  3. rambaboo maheshwari

    Radhanath Swami’s Socrates’s Example is a real eye opner

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  4. Arjun K Ramachandra

    Thanks for posting this eye opener! I realized how much desperate i need to be in my search for god after reading about what socrates expected of his disciples!

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  5. Maharaj has perfectly explained the crux, of how to advance in spiritual life

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  6. The Socrates story has an amazing effect , thanks very much to Maharaj

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  7. to be desperate for service and chanting is the take away from this nice post , thanks very much Maharaj

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  8. Amazing post.. We are always greedy to get the material success but while practicing spiritual process the greed to advance is very week. The attitude of developing greed to advance in spiritual life is also stressed in Vedic literature’s. Thank you very much Radhanath Swami for stressing this with such a nice story.

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  9. Thank you very much Maharaj for giving us such an amazing understanding of “How to advance very swiftly in Spiritual life”.Really Greed or desperateness for absolute truth (Laulyam)is a prime factor for advancement in spiritual life.Haribol!

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  10. Unless we become disparate in hearing and chanting of gods name and thereby grow in spiritual lives,we can not become mature in realization……….thank you radhanath swami..

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  11. Very nice article…..the desperation displayed by Swamiji to understand spiritual knowledge & to get a spiritual master is truly amazing……I stongly recommend everyone to read this holy autobiography of Swamiji ‘Journey Home’

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  12. Thank you maharaj for sharing this

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  13. Radhanath Swami has met so many spiritualists. Rest of us can only dream of such a life. With all this experience I feel safe to just follow his teachings.

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  14. Thank you Maharajah for reminding us to have realization we must
    hear,chant and serve selflessly.

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  15. very difficult,thankyou for realization.

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  16. Yes, the desperation of Radhanath Swami for the truth is evident in his book.

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  17. Advaita & Kalasudha

    A very nice read. The story of Socrates as narrated by Radhanath Swami is very nice….only if we truly desire to render selfless service and hear, chant the holy names of the Lord, only then will the Lord reciprocate with our sincerity. Thank you, Radhanath Swami, for this very wonderful post.

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  18. Yogita Jagannathan

    The example of Socrates is really profound. Thank you Maharaj.

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  19. M Pandu Rangayya Shetty

    Everybody wants to get what he wants but the unknown fact is how to get it. Radhanatha Swami is an expert to reveal how to get it. All glories to Radhantha Swami.

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  20. Excellent article. we are desperate in life about so many things, need to become more desperate for Krishna

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  21. thanx for sharing

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  22. Radhanath Swami’s book is a book of sweet desperation – on that inspires us to become desperate for God.

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  23. Amazing article. Thank you very much for this wonderful post.

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  24. Radhanath Swami gives a profound example-Socrates story,to show one’s desire has to be strong to search out truth. His own life story is more profound to prove this point.

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  25. It is simply astounding to see Radhanath Swami’s intense desire for spiritual knowledge.

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  26. One of the most important things Radhanath Swami has mentioned here is “Unless we have this desperation to grow in our spiritual lives, advancement on the spiritual path is difficult”. This is something which everyone of us must consider seriously. Thank you very much Radhanath Swami for this great message.

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  27. Maharaj has deep realization of Absolute truth, it is so enlightening thank you maharaj

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  28. I have read Radhanath Swami’s book thrice and each time I was taken aback by his desperation for truth. Hats off to Radhanath Swami.

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  29. Srinivas Acharya Das

    Inspiring article. Thanks for sharing.

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  30. This desire is sometimes strong , sometimes weak. But by reading such articles , it again becomes strong.

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  31. Thank you so much for posting this. A real eye opener…

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  32. Excellent article. Thank you radhanath swami

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  33. With same desperation, Radhanath Swami is now doing the selfless service of giving others real happiness. Jai.

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  34. Its simply amazing.
    H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj ki Jay!!!

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  35. Thank you so much Radhanath Swamiji for giving us the Truth always.

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  36. Wonderful artcile.

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  37. I pray that someday I maybe as desperate for truth as HH Radhanath Swami.

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  38. I love the artwork on Radhanath Swami’s website.

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  39. It takes life times to become so keen to have this desire of searching Him.

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  40. Tallam Sita Ramaiah

    H.H Radhanath Swami Maharaj has given us such an amazing understanding of “How to advance very swiftly in Spiritual life”. Real greed or desperateness for absolute truth is the prime factor for advancing in spiritual life.

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  41. yes to become mature in spiritual life ,we must serve ,chant and hear more and more.Thanks for this knowledge.

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  42. rambaboo maheshwari

    unless we have desperation to grow in our spiritual lives, advancement on the spiritual path is difficult.Thankyou Radhanath Swami.

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  43. Chintamani Paleja

    great article. thank u.

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  44. desperate to seek truth – Radhanath Swami’s questis unending

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  45. so true…as we grow we become mature!

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  46. Its really nice lesson from story of socretis…Thank you for sharing this realisation.

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  47. Many thanks to Radhanath swami for sharing this experience

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  48. i am thinking when will i be desperate to seek the absolute truth…

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  49. Some of the incidents from Radhanath Swami’s book are hair-raising!

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  50. Radhanath Swami’s book Journey Home tells us what kind of Price one should be ready to pay to know the Absolute Truth!

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